Gambling games have appeal to many people. Casinos are one of the most popular suppliers of gambling games. Most casinos participate in the gambling and gain money based on the tilted odds of the gambling games which they provide. These tilted odds are one of the reasons casinos are illegal in some countries. That is, many countries allow gambling if it is performed between a plurality of individuals in what is referred to as “pari-mutuel” games. These pari-mutuel games may be organized by a service supplier which receives a commission for providing the game facilities but does not participate in the gambling.
Pari-mutuel games are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,476,259 to Weingardt and 5,984,779 to Bridgeman, et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. In these games, players gamble against an accrued pool from which winner payouts are provided. One of the problems with using accrued pools is that the sum of money in the pool varies and in some instances may be relatively low. Various methods are suggested to keep the pool at relatively constant levels. These methods, however, are complex and tend to alter the rules of the well-known casino games played.
The above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,259 describes playing table games, such as twenty-one, craps and baccarat as player-banked games where one player banks and plays against the other players. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,259 states that player banked games advance noticeably slower than casino banked games and that the allowed wagers in player banked games are often limited due to the credit amount carried by the banker.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,536 to Flasch, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a blackjack table game in which a dealer offers the players of the game to play the roll of the banker. The role of the banker is offered to each of the players according to the order in which the players are seated. Each player may accept or decline the offer. In order to accept the role of the banker and enjoy the favorite odds the casino traditionally enjoys, the player accepting the banker's role must have sufficient funds in order to pay the maximal possible winnings of all the other players. A similar scheme for distributing the role of banker between the players of a different multi-player card game is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,444 to Nguyen, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
These schemes for distributing the role of banker are directed to steady groups of players in which the same group of players plays a sequence of rounds. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,444 relates to sequences of 16 rounds for a group of eight players which each serves as banker for two rounds. Allowing players to join and/or leave the game in the middle of a sequence of rounds tilts the odds of the game and may cause unrest in the casino. In addition, the different sums held by the players of the game cause changes in the maximal wagers which may be offered by users or disqualifies users holding relatively low sums from acting as banker.
In a variation of the scheme of the U.S. Pat. No., 5,823,536 it is suggested to split the banker role between one of the players and the casino, which is represented by the dealer. The wagers paid by the players are divided evenly between the banker player and the casino and the winnings of the players are paid in even parts by the banker player and the casino. Using such a scheme, however, means that the casino is an active (although partial) participant in the gambling. As described above, such participation of the casino in the gambling is undesired.